


Tomorrow will be kinder

by theflyinganonymouse



Category: VIXX
Genre: M/M, This Is Sad, dystopian au, im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 10:04:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theflyinganonymouse/pseuds/theflyinganonymouse
Summary: They make it to the beach just in time.





	Tomorrow will be kinder

**Author's Note:**

> For the dystopian square in fantasia fic bingo.

By some small miracle, they make it to the beach.

It’s deserted, just like the tiny town they had stumbled through, and Hakyeon knows they won’t be disturbed here. The town doesn’t look to have been much of anything, certainly not now, but he thinks even in its heyday, before- before what had happened, it wouldn't have been a busy place. The couple of dozen buildings are rotting and decaying and the signs of all its former inhabitants are covered in a layer of grime. Hakyeon doesn’t think anyone has been here in a very long time. He’s glad. It means that they’ll be safe here for as long as it takes for Taekwoon to…

He doesn’t want to think about it.

There’s a stone wall that marks the beginning of the beach and Hakyeon sets them up on the sand side, sheltered from view from the town, laying out their blankets and their packs and he helps Taekwoon get comfortable. He’s shaking and sweating now and Hakyeon knows in his heart that they don’t have much time.

He crawls underneath the blankets when he's done and he pulls Taekwoon to him. Taekwoon’s head is a solid weight against his chest and Hakyeon can feel the heat rolling from him even through all the layers he's wearing. Taekwoon’s bony shoulder digs into his side but he really doesn’t mind. It’s worth it to have Taekwoon so close.

“I told you we’d make it.” He says, brushing some of Taekwoon’s hair away from his sweaty forehead. He doesn't expect Taekwoon to answer, to even be listening. “Isn’t the view so pretty?”

They’re looking out across the sea. The sky is clear and bright with the sunshine of early spring and they can see for miles. It really is beautiful. Hakyeon has always found the vastness of the sea to be soothing and knows Taekwoon feels the same- he'd told him once, years and years ago. He’s glad, in a strange way, that it’s all going to end here. It’s where it had started, after all.

“Do you remember when we first met?” Hakyeon asks.

It was years ago now, in the before, and they had been young and ignorant of what was to come. They had met one summer’s night on the sands of a beach a lifetime away from the one they’re at now. They had been teenagers then, their limbs long and gangly and their faces marked with acne, on vacation with their families and a chance encounter had been the start of something lifechanging. Hakyeon had known it even then that his life would never be same, could never be the same, not without Taekwoon.

“My sisters thought you looked mean but I never did, I knew you were just shy. Every time I spoke to you your cheeks turned the sweetest pink and I… I was in love with you before you even spoke your first word to me.” Hakyeon lets out a soft snort, his heart aching in his chest. “Do you remember what you said to me?”

Taekwoon nods his head and Hakyeon thinks he sees the ghost of a smile on his chapped and cracked lips. Hakyeon's heart skips a beat and a smile pulls at his lips- he had thought Taekwoon was sleeping.

“You told me off for being so loud and annoying.” Hakyeon's laugh is a tired one. “You said you’d never met anyone who talked as much as me.”

“S-still haven’t.” Taekwoon hisses from between clenched teeth, his voice no louder than a whisper. It’s the first time he’s spoken in a couple of days. Hakyeon is both relieved and frightened- this is the most lucid Taekwoon has been since the fever had started. Hakyeon’s mostly been talking to himself. Talking just to fill the silence. Talking so Taekwoon knows he’s not alone. “But I- I lo-.”

He breaks off with a pained gasp and his whole body shudders.

Hakyeon’s heart lurches, his brief moment of happiness quickly forgotten, and he immediately chastises Taekwoon, “don’t talk, you need to save your energy.”

Taekwoon shakes his head, “I need to… You- I love you.”

“I know.” Hakyeon says. “I’ve always known, you don’t need to tell me.”

“Do.” Taekwoon argues and suddenly he’s fighting back a sob. “’M dying.”

“You’re not.” Hakyeon tells him and he wishes it were the truth. “You’re going to be okay.”

“Don’t lie.” Taekwoon chokes out. “I know- I... I’m scared.”

“I know.” Hakyeon holds him tighter and presses a kiss to the top of his head. “But I’m here, Taekwoon. I’ll keep you safe.”

“It hurts.” Taekwoon really is crying now, fat tears rolling down sallow cheeks burning red with fever. “Hakyeon- _hurts_.”

“I know, I know.” Hakyeon rocks him. It kills him to see Taekwoon like this but there’s nothing he can do. There is no medicine and they don’t know any doctors, probably wouldn’t be able to get to them even if they did. It’s been weeks now since they last saw someone. “I know it hurts, baby, so I want you to do something for me, okay? I want you to close your eyes and go to sleep. You can’t hurt when you’re sleeping and tomorrow…”

Hakyeon knows Taekwoon isn’t going to live to see tomorrow.

“Tomorrow will be kinder.” He says, his own cheeks now wet with tears. He forces a smile for Taekwoon's sake. “I promise you, you won’t hurt anymore. Tomorrow will be kinder.”

Taekwoon sobs for a little longer before he finally stops, too weak to keep on going. Hakyeon watches as his eyes flutter closed and he tries not to think about how he’ll likely never see  
Taekwoon open them again. It hurts too much.

“I’m sorry.” Taekwoon whispers minutes or hours later. Hakyeon has long lost all sense of time. There’s only him and Taekwoon now. The waves, the wind, the birds soaring overhead- they've all disappeared to leave just Hakyeon and Taekwoon. Soon there’ll only be him and the setting sun. “You- alone. ‘M sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, don’t ever be sorry. This is not your fault.” Hakyeon tells him, sternly.

“Don’t want… Don’t want you t’be ‘lone.”

Taekwoon is obviously exhausted, the effort of talking sapping him of all his remaining energy, but he tries anyway and Hakyeon loves him for it even if he wishes he wouldn’t. Every word is like a punch to the gut.

“Worried.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Hakyeon keeps on forcing a smile around his tears. “I’ll be okay. I’ll continue north like we had planned to and I’ll meet up with the others. They’ll keep an eye on me. I’ll be okay.”

“Promise?” Taekwoon asks.

“I promise.” Hakyeon says and he tries to sound like he means it. He doesn’t know if he can ever be okay again without Taekwoon but he knows Taekwoon will want him to try. “Now go to sleep. I’ll be here.”

“I love you.” Taekwoon breathes.

“I love you, too.” Hakyeon says. “With all my heart.”

Taekwoon doesn’t speak again.

The waves continue to crash against the sand and the sun continues its journey in the sky and Hakyeon cries and cries as Taekwoon’s breaths begin to grow more and more shallow.

He wants to scream. It isn’t fair! They’re both so young, both so full of love for each other and the world at large, even with everything that’s happened, with all the horrors they’ve seen, they'd had so much _hope_. All they’d wanted was a life together, a chance to fall even deeper in love, but it’s all been snatched away from them now and it isn’t fair! They don’t deserve this. Taekwoon doesn’t deserve this. They were meant to be happy. They had wanted to be happy.

The fits start as the sun begins to set.

Taekwoon’s whole body jerks and spasms and Hakyeon holds him as tightly as he dares, too scared to let go. It’s all so violent and terrible and Taekwoon doesn’t deserve this. Hakyeon doesn’t know how to get it to stop. Even if it means letting Taekwoon go, he knows he needs to get it to stop. It's hurting him. 

“Let go, Taekwoon.” Hakyeon pleads, sobbing, unable to bear the contortions of Taekwoon’s body any longer, his pained gasps or the trickle of blood leaking down his chin. “If you need to go then just go, okay? Don’t hold on for me, I’ll be okay- I promise. And you’ll be okay, too, I know you will. You won’t hurt anymore if you just let go. Please, Taekwoon, _please_.”

Taekwoon falls still just as the sun slips from view.

Hakyeon watches his chest rise and fall and rise just once more and then never again.

Hakyeon screams and he cries, desperately clutching Taekwoon’s limp and unresponsive body to him, and he curses every second that had led them to this moment. How could fate be so cruel? How could it let Taekwoon be snatched away from him like this? Why? Couldn’t it see just how much Hakyeon loved him? It isn’t fair! It isn’t fair! His heart feels like it’s shattering in his chest and the pain is unlike anything he’s ever felt before.

How is he meant to go on?

He falls asleep, exhausted from his outpouring of grief, and when he wakes the sun is rising once more and Taekwoon is cold in his arms.

“I love you.” He says and he kisses Taekwoon on his pale blue lips for the last time. He feels hollow but some small part of him is relieved, too, because Taekwoon isn’t suffering anymore. The last week, since Taekwoon had first started getting sick, has been hell but it's over now. “It’s better for you, wherever you’ve gone. You can’t hurt there.”

Hakyeon wants to cry but he doesn’t have any tears left. He's too exhausted, too heartbroken and empty.

“I love you.” He says as the wind picks up and a pair of gulls fly overhead. “And I know you loved me, too. I promised you I would be okay and I will be, I just… I love you.”

The sun reflects off the sea and the pale pink of the sky slowly begins to turn a brilliant blue. A single tear rolls down Hakyeon’s cheek and something in his chest throbs.

It’s going to be a beautiful day.


End file.
